First of all, in the song 'working class hero" the line is..."you're
still fucking peasants as far as I can see" so therefore that point
you were trying to make doesnt really make sense. (That was
an 'intentional misquotation', but it really takes nothing out of my point
- G.S.) And if you dont know what I
am talking about, please go read what you said about lennon, I know I didnt
imagin it. But, anyhow, I think John's solo stuff is great, not that you
dont, but I do believe if he wanted to make his songs polished works like
Paul, and well, the beatles, I do believe he could have very easily. But
you are right about one thing, I dont believe he cared enough to do that,
Really, he didnt have to. He had nothing to prove in my book, and I have
a very large book.

<JNicoleDan@aol.com> (27.03.2000)

John was by far my favorite Beatle. He was so quick-witted, funny, and
when it came to song writing I think he surpasses all the other Beatles'
talent put together. I really like his solo work, because it's just John,
you don't have to wonder if Paul had meddled with it or not and it's great
stuff. And through Imagine you learn so much about this man. It's
like the emotion poured through songs like "Julia" carefully
molded into a whole album. I love it.

I definitely agree with the idea that you never know what you're gonna
get if you go out and randomly purchase a John Lennon CD without knowing
what it sounds like. If you're looking for uncompromising integrity, then
you'd probably want to go with Plastic Ono Band. If that album seems
a little too harrowing, then there's the album that Lennon himself referred
to as the 'sugarcoated' version, Imagine, which is both tuneful
and brilliant. After that, you may want to pick up Walls And Bridges,
which is both commercial and surprisingly consistent considering that Lennon's
heart wasn't really into making music during that period. In fact, the
album before that, Mind Games, is also commercial-sounding, but
suffers from a lack of inspiration, and is almost never brought up in discussions
about great Lennon music. There's also Rock And Roll for those who
enjoy 50s music played by 70s session musicians (with perhaps the world's
greatest rock vocalist). The rest of John Lennon's albums are also Yoko
Ono albums. The first three (Two Virgins, Life With The Lions and
Wedding Album) are all avant-garde albums, and therefore won't appeal
to 99% of the population (although I'll admit to enjoying some of this
stuff when I'm in the mood). There's also Live Peace In Toronto 1969,
which is sloppy but kind of fun. Most people will, of course, reject side
two because it features Yoko. Some Time In New York City, with its
accompanying Live Jam, suffers not only because Yoko decided to
try her hand at straightforward songs (rather than the dissonant abstractions
that she was actually good at), but because even John turns in a less-than-brilliant
output. Then there's Double Fantasy, which was made at a point when
John was at his most utterly commercial, and Yoko was finally capable of
coming up with cool songs. (Or is it just the arrangements that are so
cool?) Oh, and let's not forget Milk And Honey, which is really
not bad at all - just unfinished.

All other Lennon releases are either compilations (Shaved Fish, The
John Lennon Collection, Imagine: John Lennon, Legend), or collections
of previously unavailable recordings (Menlove Ave., Live In New York
City, Wonsuponatime, The John Lennon Anthology), which are interesting
mainly to those who have the regular stuff already. John Lennon certainly
wasn't the only musician to ever put his innermost turmoil into his songs,
but it's safe to say that he's by far the most famous musician to ever
do this - and that takes quite a lot of balls on his part. While I don't
agree that Lennon was never commercially-minded, I do think that it's rare
to see such a popular songwriter coming up with such uncommercial songs
as 'Mother.' Lennon also offers us a pretty unconventional overall philosophy
of life, which is also unusual for somebody so popular.
Speaking in strictly musical terms, Lennon easily falls within the greatest
lead vocalists of all time. And while his playing is essentially nontechnical,
Plastic Ono Band reveals him to be intense and dynamic both on guitar
and on piano - and, frankly, that's what really counts when it comes to
grabbing the listener's attention and putting over the song.

Kathleen Keplar <rkeplar@norcom2000.com> (16.07.2000)

This one's for everyone who ever dreamed of getting a chance to be worthy.
What is the definition of the word 'idol'? Or of 'fan'. Where's the boundaries
between entertainer and artist, artist and human, human and God? What makes
a person's life worthy of the time they were given to roam around this
chunk of rock and do whatever they will manage to do? Heavy questions...what
have they got to do with a one time Chuck Berry wannabe from Liverpool
U.K.?

Lennon is one of the true enigmas of our time. He's the best of us...and
the worst. A man of clear vision and integrity one moment, and sheer lunacy
and hypocrisy the next. Getting murdered on his doorstep isn't hard to
believe. He didn't even have to move here to the states to meet such a
fate...fate had his number all along. The 'when' and 'where' of it was
just a minor detail. The world isn't a safe place for true enigmas. They
scare the hell out of people, makes them do stupid things. Things even
more stupid than the usual stupid things they do. John's gone, but that's
okay, our world didn't deserve someone like him anyway.
No one should jump into John's music unawares. The only way to fully appreciate,
or understand his music, is to get to know him a little first. John was
deep into pure R&R. He lived and breathed it. His rhythm sound and
style was, at first, pure Chuck Berry. He even swiped licks and lyrics
from Berry outright. Berry was more flattered than anything and settled
for an apology and some royalties. I despise Chuck Berry...I live less
than an hours drive from his home in Wentzeville Mo. He's an ass...But
John thought he was God there for awhile. And John absorbed the very best
from him and his R&R founding partner Johnny Johnson. {He's the Johnny
of 'Johnny B. Goode' fame.} John himself unwittingly triggered the signature
sound of the sixties guitar bands. He bought a Rickenbacker six string
just before the Beatles came to the states. The Ric is an American
made axe but was virtually unknown here at the time. All those R&R
wannabes saw and heard that black 325 on Ed Sullivan and the Rickenbacker
craze was on. The Ric has a very unique sound, I know this first hand because
I play a 360 myself, it was the sound of the mid sixties, the trademark
of Rock and Pop music of that era. John did it.
The harshness of much of his later work can be traced to that viscous
R&R streak in him. The Beatles came in the second wave of the R&R
movement. Eddie Cockren was dead, as was Buddy Holly. Jerry Lee Lewis and
Chuck Berry had serious social and legal problems and dropped from sight.
Elvis had been drafted into the Army. Rockabilly had split into several
different directions at once...the old guard, the founding fathers of R&R
were gone or out of the picture. The guys in the suits moved in and rock
went corporate for the first {and not the last} time. R&R was cleaned
up, controlled by the big guys with cigars, and made very safe and profitable.
The Beatles were part of this scene at first. Brian Epstien brought them
in, cleaned them up and made them presentable to these tasteless vultures
in three piece suits. Lennon went along with it, there was no other option
back then...he had to be seething like a volcano. Once the Beatles became
so powerful in the industry he was able to vent. Once the Beatles went
defunct, he was able to blow. And blow he did! John's loudest, and roughest
material owes its sound to the purest R&R...an artist turned loose
to hurl his emotions at the world with no apologies or censure.
In 1956 Elvis was considered one of the nastiest most destructive forces
ever unleashed on the world...by the early 1970s John Lennon took that
crown.
The comparison ends there. John didn't just do his thing, then go Vegas
the way Elvis did. And he didn't milk his glory days for every cheap assed
penny the way Berry does to this day. He had clout. He had power over
his generation. He then did the deed that lifted him to the status where
he reigns now. He used that power in an attempt to save the world. Call
it politics, call it ego, call it nuts, call it a joke...but that's what
he did. For better or worse. John Lennon openly tried to save the world.
He showed his ass. He showed his genitalia. He screamed his lungs out.
He got everybody to stare at him...and all he said to them when they looked
was 'Peace'. 'Imagine' that.
Musically the one thing that really amazes me is how at one moment he could
compose a song like 'Working Class Hero', then turn right around and write
the enchanting 'Love'. 'Whatever Get You Through the Night' then
'Cold Turkey'. {Not in that order.} He insisted that 'Imagine' was just
'Working Class Hero' with sugar sprinkled on it. That's a telling remark
when you really look at it. John's music never sat still, John kept
evolving. With Double Fantasy he said he'd come full circle
finally...days later he was gone. Now that's fitting. When we hear
McCartney on the radio, most of us just say "Oh it's just him again..."
We notice George when he's on there. And Ringo makes everybody smile
when he pops up. You gotta love Ringo, ask anybody. But on that rare occasion
when Lennon actually gets some air time, we listen. We may cringe, we might
smile, or we might tap on the steering wheel, we might sing along to 'Give
Peace A Chance'. The point is, if you're alive, you'll react. John's
showing his ass again and when he gets your attention you'll hear
his voice as clear as if he were sitting there next to you. "Peace."
Thank you John...you were worthy. For better or worse, you were worthy.

Lets get one thing straight. Lennon is not mccartney as Mccartney is
not lennon, as neither are lennon-mccartney.

In my mind there's no use in arguing over who's better. I believe that
Paul Mccartney was a vastly superior musician, singer, and song craftsman
than lennon, but I believe lennon was on the whole a much better lyricist,
and on the whole a more interesting public figure. Their talents complemented
each other perfectly, and even in their solo careers neither one really
excelled above the other.
Plastic ono band was without a doubt his creative peak, and such
a dead end, it all seems a bit irrelevant after that. His sound matured,
but you couldnt help feel that music was just a bit of an after thought
for him post the imagine album.
I dont want to shout johns praises as a solo artist nor find fault with
him, as though I could do both very easily from a critical perspective,
as his music has brough me so much enjoyment.
Im glad that in death people have realised the importance and legendary
status of this man and his work.

I think you should omit your disclaimer from your Lennon pages: you
are very close to a "narrow-perspective fanatic", (as am I, but
I'm slowly getting over it). There is no way Lennon's solo career, if that
is what you are basing your rating on (you must be, as you give Pete Townshend
a 1) is worth a 4. Your own reviews reflect this: you constantly and correctly
bag him, but still rate him equal to or better than many more deserving
artists.

Even though I only like small doses of say, Bowie, Lou Reed, Stevie Wonder
or Led Zeppelin, I'd put them all above Lennon the solo act, though not
above Lennon if you take his entire works into account. (You can't have
done that with Pete.) Do you really think Lennon's solo output deserves
equal ranking with that of the Kinks and Pink Floyd? Lennon a 4 and Van
Morrison isn't even reviewed? (Perhaps his CDs are hard to get in Moscow?)
All these acts produced very influential and (to varying degrees) original
work, while Lennon managed neither after 1970. His Beatles stuff is another
matter, of course.
Lennon the solo artist started by recording rubbish, cut one really great
record (JL/POB), a good one (Imagine), then managed only
the odd great song before finishing with the thoroughly bland MOR of Double
Fantasy, one or two tracks excepted. Is that really worth a 4? Some
perspective, please, George!

Palash Ghosh <palash7@hotmail.com> (24.02.2001)

As much as I loved and admired John Lennon, it pains me to admit that
his 'solo career' was primarily a disaster. The first two albums (Plastic
Ono Band and Imagine) were great (not stupendous), and everything
thereafter was a big joke. It was a sad and pathetic thing to behold. I
don't really know what happened to John, was it the drugs, the recovery
from drugs, Yoko Ono, the deportation hearings?

Whatever was the culprit, John was pretty much washed-up by 32 -- he either
went completely mad, or his ego was reduced to such a minute dimension,
that he no longer cared about anything. When I think about John I think
of his life before coming to America -- for in the U.S., he was idolized
a bit too much by people he shouldn't have been around in the first place.
I wish he's never left England, maybe New York City is what destroyed him.

Oh this John Lennon. Maybe the most popular foreign singer in Russia.
Lots of my friends bash Paul and praise John without even hearing about
one third of their albums. The reasons are very banal, though. John never
was washed-up, John always had revolutionary ideas, John's paintings are
so beautiful (well, I really hate someone talking about things he doesn't
understand. As I discovered the formula of my friends was: weird=terrific
(even if it is a piece of shit in dandelions)) and etc. ... So every time
I hear such phrases I want to run to my disc-storage and put Ram
or Venus and Mars into my recorder.

Well, I don't want to say that John wasn't sincere or something like this.
Look, now Lennon is a legend just like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim
Morrison or Marc Bolan and that's why many of his real character features
are much exaggerated. I admire John for the fact that he never wore a mask
of 'make love, not war' hippie, I admire him for being VERY open with the
listener, I admire him for being the leader of the early Beatles and for
writing tons of terrific songs! But was he much original (and please don't
say that 'Wedding album' is a style of life or new life concept)? No. And
that's the problem. Well, maybe only his real first try (Plastic Ono
band) was original but not so many people understand it (and I confess
that I don't understand it at all!). And don't think that I consider John
to be a chocolate egg. No! John had lots of ideas (not all of them were
good, though).
Maybe my opinion about John is marred by Yokos(o/u)ngs which are present
on more than half albums but it's really hard to ignore her presence on
the record. So I'll try to rate him not looking on Yoko.
Listenability: 4/5 Sometimes his slow songs (like 'Love') bore me to death
and I nearly fall asleep.
Resonance: 5/5 Any questions?
Originality: 2/5 Tough on that one... Two points are given only for Plastic
Ono band.
Adequacy: 4/5. IMHO, our fellow sometimes took himself more seriously than
it was needed
Overall: 3.75 = * * * * on the general rating scale. Yes, it's almost 4
stars but not 'nearly 5' as some say.

John Lennonís solo career was kind of hit and miss. The first couple
of releases could not even be classified as music. I am not too familiar
with the Plastic Ono Band Release. Whereas these songs are fairly
catchy, the mood is overly political. I do not always care to listen to
political rants in my music. In addition, Johnís voice comes off as very
strained and abrasive on the above mentioned tracks. However, on Imagine
John delivers his watershed album. The rhythms and styles blend very well
from ballads to rockers to social commentary to tender love songs and more.
Afterwards John had a few other stand outs songs. I particularly like 'Mind
Games' as Johnís voice seems more pleasant and the song structure seems
very pleasing as well. The Rock N Roll release was a creative twist
but hinted that John offered nothing new song wise in the middle of 1975
while his partner Paul McCartney was in the midst of raiding the charts
with hit singles. Just as John was making a comeback with Double Fantasy,
his life was cut short by a crazed assassin. One can only wonder how John
Lennon would have fared in the eighties and nineties had he survived.

ALBUMSWEDDING
ALBUM

Simon Hearn <simon@leehearn.freeserve.co.uk> (08.09.99)

I'm sure lennon, being the genius that he was, must have regretted this
debacle for the rest of his life. It is a poor, poor album and gives ammunition
to all those Yoko haters (no bad thing!). Luckily he would find true genius
again with the "primal scream" album - plastic ono band
in 1970.

Interesting. Not in a good way either. The first time I heard this album,
I was acually laughing pretty hard. It was so corny and stupid that it
made me laugh. It was pathetic. However, I now have new feelings for this
album, because I am one of the unlucky few who have had the dishonor of
hearing Life With The Lions. Compared with that album, Wedding
Album is a dang masterpiece. There is almost humanly impossible to
listen to the entire 26 minute Yoko wailing/John feedback epic "Cambridge
1969." You want to kill yourself by the 2 minute mark. Listening to
Wedding Album after this one makes me acually ENJOY it. Maybe I'm
a freak, but just buy Life With The Lions, and see for yourself.
Ick.

M. Hancock <megane@c-gate.net> (18.04.2000)

Them saying "John" and "Yoko" isn't over their heartbeats,
but over that of their unborn child who died due to miscarriage. They recorded
this in Yoko's hospital room. The end of this song also means the fetus
heart quit beating. Suffice to say, I never listened to it again. Or this
album, but for different reasons.

Okay, just to set the record straight: contrary to what M. Hancock wrote,
the recording of the baby's heartbeat while in the hospital room is on
Life With The Lions, not on this album - so I would assume that
it really is John and Yoko's heartbeats we hear on the track 'John And
Yoko.'

Even though I'm not adverse to avant-garde or to Yoko Ono, I must say that
both of the tracks on this album are pretty poor examples. About the best
thing I can say for 'John And Yoko' is that once in a while, John really
belts it out. 'Amsterdam' is little more than what you'd hear on a typical
interview album, except for a couple of pretty weak musical moments. We
get to hear the predecessor to 'John John (Let's Hope For Peace),' which
was done live on the Toronto album. This is one of those things where Yoko
sings the title of the song in verrrrry lonnnng sylllllabbbblllesss. It
doesn't work here. More interesting is an off-the-cuff tune using the arpeggiated
chords that were later used for 'Because.' Oh, and there's also a very
off-the-cuff rendition of 'Good Night,' which I think is the only recording
of John singing that (I may be wrong, though). The bonus tracks on the
CD are Yoko's because this album is included in the series of Yoko Ono
reissues. What we get is 'Who Has Seen The Wind?' (the b-side of 'Instant
Karma,' this is one of those early Yoko attempts at doing a real song,
with results that are fair at best - and that's stretching it), 'Listen
The Snow Is Falling' (the b-side of 'Happy Xmas' and later the b-side of
Yoko's 'Mind Train' in the UK, this is also fair at best in the songwriting
department, with a nice electric guitar part - Yoko clearly doesn't have
the right voice for singing ballads) and an acoustic demo of 'Don't Worry
Kyoko' (which sounds drastically different from the rock version that appears
on the b-side of 'Cold Turkey' - it's really just kind of sloppy and undynamic).
The craziest thing about this album, though, is that with all of its uncommercial
audio contents, it was packaged in a box with several souvenir artifacts
of John and Yoko's wedding. This made it quite expensive for a single album.

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (07.03.2001)

I used to have it but I got rid of it (for a lot of dough).

JL said to a French rock critic:"avant-garde?isn't it the French word
for "shit"?

Yoko Ono was an artistic genius before John Lennon could do anything besides
play rhythm guitar and hear Elvis. She was one of the first artists in
rock to actually meddle with the medium beyond verse, chorus, verse, chorus,
even if the verses and choruses were cerebral and creative. When she yells
"aoaoaoooaaooaooa" or "euh-ea-eugha-eh-ehe-hehuaheh",
she is not trying to sooth the ears, but express her emotions in a new
and original type of way within music.
Whether you, an intelligent man, realize this or not, you dismiss Ono several
times on this page, and give her songs on Lennon's albums poor ratings
simply because they are not listenable, even if they are creative and artistically
coherent. Saying that all she does is inconsistently wail is like saying
that all rock vocalists do is sing words in a certain key. Recognize this:
If an avant-garde album is a mere facade (in your mind), with no artistic
basis whatsoever (think Metal Machine Music), you should, in theory
as a critic, give it a poor review. But if it is substantial piece of art,
you could spare it a rating because it is incomprehensible to your Genesis-
and Beatles-weaned ears (not that there is anything wrong with that), BUT
DO NOT SAY THAT IT IS "NOT MUSIC", BECAUSE IT IS. IT'S JUST A
DIFFERENT KIND. AND IT DESERVES A RATING. In fact, you should probably
give a listen to Plastic Ono Band by Yoko sometime, with John, Ringo
and Klaus Voormann. It's remarkable, and it's ROCK MUSIC, with drums and
bass and guitar in key and in time.
AVANT-GARDE MUSIC IS ACCEPTABLE IN ALL FORMS, whether by Eno or Can or
Ono or Fripp or Lennon or Harrison or Zappa or the Residents or Beefheart.
And that should be more recognized, but it's not. Which is sad. But hey,
I guess it's just my opinion...there are some people who think McCartney
(the album) is a great piece of work, too, so...
[Special author note: Yoko Ono
was a pretentious Japanese faux-artist, taking most of her ideas from concurrent
avantgarde trends and sometimes mixing them with elements of Japanese theatrics
(she did not invent these "aaaooaaaoa" and "euh-ea-eugh",
contrary to what you think). All of her so-called "art" has no
meaning whatsoever, and when it has, it's a superficial, trivial meaning
supposed to be 'profound' simply because it is presented in an unconventional
way. Only an amateur "avantgardist" like Yoko could switch so
easily between 'artistic' yellings of "John, John" and the dumbest
of the dumbest in by-the-book political protest songs. Any of her compositions
and sound collages could have been penned by a 5-year old, and she never
possessed the complexity or the innovative vision of any of the other avantgarde
artists you have listed. As for saying that "avant-garde music is
acceptable in all forms", this can be said about anything. A different
opinion - which you seem to be unable to accept - is that, as in every
form of art, there is good avant-garde and bad avant-garde. Eno, Zappa,
Fripp, the Residents, and Beefheart is good avant-garde to me. Yoko Ono
is abominable avant-garde, and has remained so long after I have learned
to appreciate all of these artists. My Genesis weaned ears allow me to
admit the substantiality of Trout Mask Replica, but no amount of
Ono listening will ever lead me to accept that Two Virgins or Wedding
Album is anything more than a bunch of amateurish, miserable parodies
on avantgarde. At the very best. Oh, and there's far, far less distance
between these albums and Metal Machine Music than you think to guarantee
the necessity for namecalling.]

Kevin MacNutt <egebamayasi@hotmail.com> (26.09.2002)

I am a fan of avant-garde. I have listened to hours of John Cage, Edgard
Varese, Pierre Henri all the way up to the rock avant-gardists such as
Can, Faust and Laurie Anderson. I own both the Wedding Album and
Two Virgins and have to say that they are pure unadulterated crap.
I am also an art major (in Photography) at James Madison University and
have to put up with these quasi-intellectual/faux artists all the time
and it make me absolutely sick. Yoko Ono would not have had mention outside
of her artists circle if not for John Lennon. She basically used him. Chances
are she didn't love him, she love his popularity and basically rode it's
wave and still is today. We were lucky Lennon came back to earth in 1970
since at the rate he was going we were likely to see Life With The Lions,
Vol.2 with John and Yoko shouting each others names whilst taking a
crap. If you want to hear Japanese avant-garde, check out Damo Suzuki or
Yakamastura Eye (from the Boredoms) and for get Ono.

If this album comes across as being a little less than great, than I
think the lack of rehearsal is the main culprit. And yet, they really perform
pretty well. My favorite moment is the ultra-dirge version of 'Money.'
The version of 'Cold Turkey' here is interesting in that it amounts to
basically a working version of the song, since this concert was given a
couple of weeks before the single was recorded. John hadn't yet crystallized
the arrangement. His voice seems a little unfocused as well. For that matter,
the b-side, 'Don't Worry Kyoko,' is also very unfocused here. Even the
official version is somewhat one-dimensional, but the band doesn't have
any power on this one. I think I should mention, too, that the single was
released in the same month (Oct.) as the Kinks' 'Mr. Churchill Says,' so
it's very unlikely that the connection between them is anything more than
coincidence. Heck, it wouldn't be hard to fill up a record store with the
songs that used that old three-chord riff, anyway. The whole album is generally
helped along by some slick licks from Clapton, and the rest of the band
plays fairly well for not knowing what they're doing. As far as Yoko goes,
I must say that I enjoy at least certain stretches of 'John, John (Let's
Hope For Peace)' - particularly the parts where she's really making far-out
noises with her voice. And the feedback (which I'm convinced is totally
intentional) fits in with this concept well. The best Yoko music, however,
is on her first two solo albums - not the ones she did with John (funny
- the same is true of John's music, too - isn't it?).

I give this one 5/10 - side A is mostly good and side B is mostly shite.
I'll be more specific: I really love the rockers and although John is a
bit nervous in the beginning (it was, after all, his first concert proper
since 1966) he soon loosens up. "Shoes" includes Perkins' cool
intro (with extra pause) and not that shitty Elvis version. "Money"
and "Dizzy" really rocks and "Yer Blues" isn't any
worse than the other versions in existence (White Album & R'n'R
Circus). Then we face the problems, aka Yoko Ono. I must stress that
I have nothing against her and I'm truly glad that John met the Woman in
his life (not to mention all the songs inspired by her). BUT! Why did she
have to appear on John's albums? I liked it better when they did an album
each, like Plastic Ono Band. She has never produced one second's
worth of "music" that I can't live without. And as mentioned
above she more or less ruins the remaining part of the album. It's rather
odd that on "Cold Turkey", where her screams would not be out
of context, she can hardly be heard at all. Buy this one for the first
half, or buy the 4CD box Lennon, where the best songs are included.

Palash Ghosh <palash7@hotmail.com> (16.02.2001)

I find this bizarre little album kind of entertaining Ė- if only for
its sheer value as a historical curiosity.

But take Eric Clapton out of the equation and you'd likely have another
embarrassing disaster on your hands.
I heard this faster live version of 'Cold turkey' before I heard the single
version, and I prefer the Toronto edition -- it 'kicks' a little more (it
almost makes heroin withdrawal sound kinda enjoyable!). I also like 'Money'
and even the clumsy 'Blue suede shoes.' 'Yer blues' is rather weak, though
(but, of course, I'm probably unfairly comparing it to the great version
from The White Album. All in all, side one is surprisingly cohesive,
considering the 'band' had little time to prepare.
Side 2 I won't even mention (it never happened)

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (07.03.2001)

Side one displays a nervy spontaneous rock."Money" is particularly
strong.Lennon's voice is angry,roaring,and predates his sensational follow-up.Sometimes
Lennon skips words but who cares?Ah had he continued like that over the
second side.Alas!I enjoy some Yoko's stuff ,but only when she's halfway
between reason and lunacy ("walking on thin ice","we're
all water").Here,all we have got is 100% sheer lunacy.

One correction to your review, in "Mother", Lennon doesn't
scream "Momma don't turn", he says "Momma don't go."
Just to let you know. Probably the best Beatle solo album. While some of
the songs are semi-bland, the songs are really personal and probably John's
most deepest album.

My rating-9 1/2

Scott & Wendy <Scott_Merrick@bc.sympatico.ca> (26.07.99)

Another correction:

The coda explosion on 'Remember', after Lennon sings 'Remember - the fifth
of November' would be referenced by Guy Fawkes and not Hawkes.
Lennon is again going back to his boyhood and remembering Guy Fawkes Day,
which is the British equivalent of the North American Halloween for it's
celebration observance.
John must have had some very mischievous fun each November 5th when he
was young.....
One of the landmark albums of all time, mainly because of Lennon's brilliant
unrestrained vocals and the superlative production. Listen to 'Mother'
and then listen to 'Nothing Compares 2 U' by Sinead O'Connor.
Obvious homage, wouldn't you say?
[Special author note: well,
well, ain't I the dirty little misspelling bastard! Both of these things
I know as well as anybody, but I obviously wrote the review under stress
or something. Maybe I was drunk. Hmm, I don't remember being drunk while
writing reviews. Anyway, thanks for all the corrections - history should
be taught with precision, shouldn't it?]

Joshua Fiero <jfiero1@lsu.edu> (08.01.2000)

Hmm. Great review, but I'm not sure I'd call "God's" thoroughly
poisonous lyrics one of the great human rights statements. I don't think
anyone who would have the nerve to say that the only real things are himself
and his wife cares a whole bunch about other people (saying they doesn't
exist just doesn't give one an impression of great compassion). In fact,
I think the libretto for most of Ono Band is self-obsessed garbage.
Still a great album, but man . . . as silly as McCartney always is, I generally
like the bastard. Lennon, however, strikes me as a total dick, especially
on this one. The stuff he did that has genuinely touching lyrics is, for
the most part, on Double Fantasy, in my opinion. Not that it matters
one way or another, though.

Cara Bradbury <cara@bradbury.ukf.net> (27.03.2000)

Definatly John's best solo album. 'Mother' IS the best song on here
with great ,moving lyrics such as ' I wanted you/you didn't want me' .
'Well , Well , Well ' is also a great song although it's quite repetitive
, it makes no difference. This one has good guitar bits . Have you noticed
the initials of the title ? I reckon John had the whole concept of the
' world wide web ' up his sleeve for ages..... not !

' Look at me ' is a fab song to chill out to with John's soothing voice....great
! If you don't have this album IT'S A NECESSITY !

Oh my goodness. This album is absolutely beautiful. Like Prindle, I
don't like 'Hold On', but the rest ... The way he sings those "I don't
believe in ..." lines in 'God', the entirety of 'Love', the screams
of 'Mother', the low-key but pissed off lines of 'Working Class Hero' ...
all of these make me cry. I would personally choose 'God' as the best track
of the lot, but really, any of them will do.

I would definitely rate this as John Lennon's best album, although I
think Imagine runs a close second. And if we count Beatles albums, then
I would put it neck to neck with The White Album. Every song on
this is brimming over with emotional self-revelation. Klaus Voorman and
Ringo Starr were the perfect choices for bass and drums on this album.
Everything is stripped down and bone-bare. There's nothing left to listen
to but the songs themselves - and even then, the melodies and lyrics are
as basic as can be. If you ever want to show people that sophistication
doesn't mean a hill of beans when it comes to good music, play this album
to them. Favorite songs (impossible to say, but how about): 'Isolation,'
'God,' 'Mother,' 'Hold On (John),' 'I Found Out.' Heck, they're all good.
And 'Working Class Hero' sure brings the world into focus - there's not
a word in that song that I don't agree with.

Incidentally, I'm pretty sure the only song on the album that hadn't been
written recently at the time was 'Look At Me.' The guitar arpeggio is no
coincidence, since it was written in India in the spring of 1968, when
songs like 'Julia' and 'Dear Prudence' were penned. And just to keep things
straight, I would like to refer to Joshua Fiero's comments about 'God.'
If you read the book 'Lennon Remembers,' you'll find that Lennon wanted
to deflate the Beatles' image, since it didn't represent who they were
as actual people. By saying that he didn't believe in Beatles, he wasn't
saying that he didn't think they existed as human beings. He was saying
he didn't want to play along with the public's misconceptions about them.
As for the various other people and things he didn't believe in, these
also have had a lot of fictitious baggage attached to them, so I'm personally
glad that somebody came out and said he doesn't believe in these things.
It's one of the reasons I'm a John Lennon fan.

A great album., and the best of his solo career by far. "God"
is about as emotional a song as I've ever heard. My personal pick for best
song would be "Working Class Hero". Maybe the best solo album
by a beatle with only All Things Must Pass contending. "Mother"
is good. "Love" is good. "Well Well Well" is good,
but maybe they should've shaved a minute off it. "All the rest are
good too, cept maybe "My Mummy's Dead", but that shouldn't really
count. A solid effort, too bad he couldn't make more stuff like this. Good
guitar playing by John too.

Paul Walker <seraphim7s@yahoo.com> (03.10.2000)

Hey, Scott and Wendy! The Fifth of November is NOTHING TO DO WITH Halloween.
Halloween (All Hallows Eve) is celebrated on the last day of October in
much the same way as Americans - trick or treat, silly games, scary stories
etc. but the Fifth of November celebrates the brutal death of Guy Fawkes.
He was executed for treason as a leader of Catholic plot to kill James
I. Most of the history behind it is forgotten. Christ, I'M a Catholic and
I still burn the ol' Guy Fawkes. Usually there are fireworks and bonfires,
and a barbecue or something - but it's nothing to do with Halloween. OK?

I wish I could find fault with this album but i cant. I dont find it
the most enjoyable album to listen to, but then again its not meant to
be.

It acheives its purpose perfectly, and is probably the most emotionally
raw record by any artist ever. I dont think you can analyse the songs themselves,
because they are pretty basic, three chords max right, but as a concept
it is truly outstanding.
I found it a bit self pittying, in that in 'Mother' he speaks of his desertion
by his parents, yet at the same time he was doing exactly the same to his
own son. That however was what made lennon the brilliant, tortured
artist that we all love.
I like how in the sleeve notes Yoko is attributed to wind effects.

It seems like this is the only album where he was "just John"
and this is certainly where we see Lennon the Artist most clearly. Of cource
he was a complicated man of many facets, but I feel that he often wasn't
honest to his public (or himself) when writing "pop" songs or
being "political". This album is of course his artistic masterpiece
as a solo performer, and those who prefer their music with sugar on it
should check out "Imagine". 10/10.

This comment will be baised on ritorical questions so if you have weak
heart or bad nerve system, stop reading here. WARNING: Don't get my comment
wrong - I DO NOT despise John's feelings.

1) Can an album touch you if you are not aware of the feelings that it's
author had (I mean the situation when YOU haven't felt the same)?
2) Can such tracks as 'My mummy's dead' be counted as songs?
3) What if these simple tunes don't touch your heart? Will you still praise
an album just because of feelings that John have had?
4) Do you really think that lyrics play main role? Role that bigger than
music's role?
5) Do you believe in your words? Do you really like this album so much?
Then why do you rate it higher than Double fantasybut the last one
is still called his best effort?
6) Sandwich always falls on it's 'face' while cat always falls on its legs,
right? So what will happen if we put sandwich on cat's back and let the
cat fall?... Sorry... that's another story...
PS. My rating is 12/15.

Palash Ghosh <palash7@hotmail.com> (15.02.2001)

When I first heard Plastic Ono Band, I was utterly stunned by
its stark simplicity and angry, desperate tone. John cut out all things
he deemed unnecessary -- after divorcing himself from The Beatles, he cut
his hair, cut out all soupy arrangements, cut out tricks like double-tracking,
and proceeded to make a very powerful record based on the simplest arrangements
and the most painfully honest lyrics.

He made the most 'un-Beatley' album possible, which, of course, was his
intention. It's almos hard to believe that just two years before this,
he was singing along to 'Hey Jude'!
I think John was sub-consciously influenced by Bob Dylan's The Times
They Are-A Changin' album, which is equally grim, unsparing and challenging.
(Maybe John took his Dylan-worship a bit too far?)
Highlights on the album are 'Working class hero,' 'Isolation' and 'I found
out.' This album really doesn't 'rock' at all, it's more like hard-edged
folk-blues.
I, too, must agree that Ringo didn't really get a chance to show how good
a drummer he was until AFTER The Beatles split up! He really shines on
some of these bare-bones, stripped-down numbers.

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (07.03.2001)

The only solo Beatle album that I rate as high as any collective effort.At
the times it was so DIFFERENT that it scared a lot of people.Because
a nice album this is definitely not..

The yelling at the end of "mother" or in"well well well" is
so intense that it gives goose pimples.The former literaly brings
back the child JL to life.I had been through the same tragedy as Lennon
the previous year,and his "mother",it was too much for me and
I was on the verge of tears each time I would play it.
Full of despair and disillusion -"I found out" (with a magnificent
Ringo)-,a misfit in a society that was hard on him at the time(working
class hero ),Lennon bares his soul as no one,before him!And it's not Dave
Dee,Dozy,Beaky,Mick and Tich!It's John Lennon,from the greatest group that
has ever been.Besides,"God" ,-"maybe the finest vocal in
rock (rolling stone)"-,is a real wholesale massacre.Someone on the
site said that,had the Beatles stayed together,it would have been nice
to see George play a prominent part on the new album.Who could imagine(sic)
"my sweet Lord" or"Hear me Lord" side by side with
"God" and "I found out"???
This album was the beginning of the me-decade;all the singers/songwriters
of the seventies own Lennon an enormous debt:Neil Young's " tonight
the night",Joni Mitchell's "blue", Lou Reed's "kill
your sons " on "Sally can't dance",Richard Thompson's "I
want to see the bright lights tonight" and "shoot out the lights"
Randy Newman'"God 's song(that's why I love mankind")on "sail
away",and much later Kurt Cobain !"A lot of people hated JL/POB but
few have really forgotten it" (Greil Marcus,rolling stone guide 1978)

Anyway, John's vocals are awesome! Is this what every heavy metal dudes
try to sound like?
I someone asked me which rocker that I like best, It'll be "I found
out". It's so kickin' that I just can't stand still when I hear it.
Not even me have got much things to complain about if we're talking 'bout
the rest, either. Some small problems do exist, but In the court
either isn't that perfect album.
It's one of the biggest disasters in rock history that John's dead (his
mummy, too, but she wasn't that rock hero...) but I suppose everybody already
knew that.

Yeah, a great album this - but why do people harp on about 'IMAGINE'
- 'JEALOUS GUY' is more revealing and is as just a stunning song, period.
With this album and its predecessor, Lennon made sure the world knew him
as the best post-beatles solo artist. Upon listening to this Macca must
have been gutted!

<Johntheguitarman@aol.com> (30.01.2000)

classic album. good

Steve Knowlton <knowltos@co.washtenaw.mi.us> (02.02.2000)

The song "Imagine" strikes me as Lennon's attempt to create
a universal anthem -- an attempt that fails in the first line of the lyrics.
Many, perhaps most, of the people who share Lennon's sentiments of brotherhood,
peace, etc. do so because of their firm belief in a loving God.

John's best solo recording hands down. Only the somewaht redundant 'I
Don't Want To Be A Soldier' is even a slight misfire and that one has an
interesting echo effect on it. Everything else is just Grade A quality.
and 'Imagine' is very beautiful for such a simple chord progression.

For me, this album, as great as it is, doesn't quite match up to Plastic
Ono Band simply because there's at least one song on it that does nothing
for me, which is 'How?' The melody is just typical ballad-writing - no
better than some of the dreary stuff McCartney has come up with over the
years. I think the best ballads on the album are 'Jealous Guy' and 'Oh
My Love.' My favorite songs, however, would have to be 'How Do You Sleep?'
and 'Give Me Some Truth,' both of which reveal Lennon at his angriest.
I'm also very partial to 'Crippled Inside' and (I hope you're sitting down,
George) 'Oh, Yoko.' In fact, 'Oh, Yoko' is such an innocent and lovable
tune, that it would fit in quite nicely on a Kinks album (that is if Ray
Davies was in love with Yoko). I must say that both George Harrison and
Nicky Hopkins play really well all over this album. John went with a larger
ensemble and a sweeter production style than on the last album, but it
works quite well.

Now, about the comments made by Steve Knowles. Perhaps you should check
out the rest of the song. For instance, if you put that first line in the
context of the entire first verse, you may find that Lennon is pointing
out that people use heaven in the afterlife as an excuse to let suffering
go on in the here and now. Not once does Lennon (who believed in God) say
that there isn't a God. Heck, he doesn't even say there isn't a God in
the song 'God.' He categorically leaves God off of the list of things he
doesn't believe in. And as far people who believe in brotherhood and peace
because of their firm belief in God go, I would say that brotherhood and
peace are good enough reasons in themselves to believe in brotherhood and
peace.

A great album, as lennon himself put it, like plastic ono band but sugar
coated. There are some duffers, 'I dont want to be a slodier', 'Its so
hard' ( it bloody well is listening to it), and 'How do you sleep' (not
that its a bad song, its just that i believe John is very much
indebted to McCartneys talents as a songwriter).

However 'Jealous Guy', 'Oh Yoko', 'How', 'Gimme Some Truth' and 'Crippled
Inside' are among the very best of his songs, and who can argue with material
like 'Imagine' ( was it elvis costello who sang "was it a millionaire
who said imagine no possessions" ? Hmm, as Macca said "too many
people preaching fantasies" I do love the imagine album
though, and I think it demonstrates perfectly lennon's need to be adored,
but to stand up as his own man also.

This is very unpredictable album for me. Unexpected mix of soft piano
songs with depressing cuts, such as 'Give me some truth' and 'How do you
sleep?'. Many thanks to George Harrison who plays slide guitar here - this
lead break is fantastic. I find these songs (I mean tracks where we get
a chance to hear George Harrison's work) the best ones on 'Imagine'. As
for title song, 'Jealous guy', 'Oh my love' and 'How?', they don't suck
but they don't touch me either (though it doesn't mean I don't like them).
'Imagine' is thought to be one of John's best songs but I find 'Give me
some truth' or 'I'm losing you' way better. 'Oh Yoko' doesn't suck, too.
I just learned not to care for lyrics much so these lines about Yoko pass
through my head without staying there.

And here's my opinion about 'How do you sleep?'. I think that it started
to restore relations with Paul. Remember that Paul composed 'Dear friend'
after that (actually, he wrote it before John did 'How do you sleep?',
but 'Dear friend' wasn't put on RAM because it didn't fit well).
So here's my rating of Imagine - 8/10 and the best song should be
'Give me some truth' because it's more impressing (and depressing, too)
than 'Imagine'.

A very good album and a favourite of those who love the "nice"
John Lennon (not that every song on here is nice, but you get my drift).
Predictably my favourites include "Imagine", "Jealous Guy",
"Give Me Some Truth", "How do you sleep" (sad lyrics
though) and "How". A solid 9/10. Why don't any of you bastards
who always knock Paul for being the soft one critisize John for being soft
here? Or on anything he recorded after 1972 for that matter? Tell me! I
really want to know.

Palash Ghosh <palash7@hotmail.com> (15.02.2001)

The Imagine album hasn't aged as well as Plastic Ono Band
mostly because the latter record is so spare that it CAN'T age, it's ageless!
Although John returns to more conventional songwriting and musicianship
here, I think it's not as good as the first LP. The title track is an indisputable
classic, as good as any of the great Beatle ballads. Other highlights include
'Jealous guy' (actually a remake of an unused song from 1968); 'Crippled
Inside' (a cool little bluesy number where John kind of sounds like a snarling
feline!); and 'Gimme some truth' (which really cooks due to that nasty
slide). The remaining songs leave me a little cold, although 'Oh my love'
has a lovely tune.

As a huge John Lennon fan, I've always been a bit embarrassed by the anti-Paul
diatribe, 'How do you sleep?' How could JOHN sleep after attacking his
ex-mate so viciously? It's an appalling thing he did, and I suspect that
he later regretted doing this.
The presence of George Harrison on this record has always puzzled me. Did
John and George mend their tiff by now? Did they ever really even HAVE
a tiff? Was Paul the sole reason for The Beatles break-up?

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (07.03.2001)

The title track has become such an anthem that we could use it
in lieu of all our national anthems.Wouldn't it be nice?

It's a much more accessible album than the ominous POB.
A lot of treasures are here to be found:"gimme some truth" with
a first-rate George solo and lyrics à la Walrus,even if it alludes
to politics."jealous guy" aka "child of nature " during
the Beatles "white album" sessions,rejected because of "mother
nature's son", an almost romantic plea."How do you sleep"
is musically splendid,but the lyrics seems nowadays mean,nasty and irrelevant."How?
" on the other hand is heartfelt and gorgeousThe words are made of
questions ,like "look at me".The final "oh Yoko" contrasts
a lot with "my mummy's dead which closes the previous work.As George
said:"it's not always gonna be this grey"

Daniel Mawbey <danm9@optusnet.com.au> (14.09.2002)

Imagine - sure, its a great album, but IMO its just a rehash
of Plastic Ono Band. It also prooves that it wasn't Yoko who clouded
John's creativity, it was John's ego.

We begin with a piano ballad, as we do with POB, ("So do heaps
of albums! Who cares??!" you say), but when it's over, we're led into
the second track by a double tracked guitar playing single notes just like
'Hold On'. The difference here is that it evolves into a horrible hokey
tune with generic lyrics. 'I dont wanna be a soldier mama' is just a carbon
copy of 'I found out'. Its one melody sounds exactly like 'I told you before,
stay away from my door, dont give me that brother etc', just that this
time round its slowed down. 'Its so hard' is a straight boring blues number
thats even worse than 'Well Well Well', at least 'Well..' deviated slightly
from the blues structure. Track 6, like on POB, we experience John's
views on the world. Again, when we get to track 7 we have a confessional
love number, 'oh My Love', HOWEVER this one is just as good as it's predecessor
on POB. Thats kinda where the comparisons end.
John was a sloppy lyricist. WHY MUST EVERYONE GO ON ABOUT HIS LYRICS???!!!!
John confessed himself, that Imagine's (naive yet beautiful) lyrics where
taken from a poem Yoko wrote. 'Crippled Inside' sports some of the most
terribly generic words ever strung together! What is so damn confessional
and emotional about saying something about a tie and a suit then linking
it with "you can comb your hair and look quite cute"??!!! Disgusting!
Yuck! Absolutely NO professionalism. 'I don't wanna be a soldier' is pretty
bland. No wonderful revelations in that song- and it's definitely not powerful
in an emotional sense. Although I really like 'Gimme Some Truth' can some
please explain how this guy gets off writing things like 'son of tricky
dicky gonna mother hubbard soft soap with me' and then insult Paul McCartney
for being a soft lyricist? **George, back me up on this one!! Please?!**
Also, don't even mention 'It's So Hard', i just hope he was intentionally
writing badly on that one. 'Oh My Love''s words were 'half'-lifted from
a Yoko poem. John said that- not me.
John mentioned in an interview that he felt Macca 'died creatively in a
way', so explain to me why (if that was the case) would he blatantly rip
off 'the Long and Winding Road' on 'How'. Sounds to me that maybe John,
too, 'learnt something in all thoses years'.
Now the pro's. 'Imagine' is undeniably done to death yet a great song all
the same. 'Jealous Guy' is good Lennon- interpret that how you want too.
'Gimme Some Truth' is a angry and melodic rocker- as is 'How do you Sleep'.
'Oh My Love' shines with the rest. Starting with a optomistic love song
major guitar part, which gets turned into an almost mournful tragedy by
a minor key piano part. 'Oh Yoko' - although it was written about ... her.
It too damn catchy to hate just because of it's subject matter.
There. I hope people read this.

SOMETIME
IN NEW YORK CITY

Dan Watkins <dan_watkins@hotmail.com> (13.07.99)

I've never heard this album (just "Scumbag" and "Jamrag"),
but I thought I'd add some historical poop about the Lennon/Zappa jam.
Frank Zappa invited John and Yoko to join in on his show. At the end of
the show, Frank and John came to the agreement that they would both release
their own verions of the jam on their own albums. When Lennon's album was
released, John and Yoko took credit for the song "Jamrag". This
upset Frank because the song was actually a song he had written titled
"King Kong". To add to the trouble, the performance was poorly
mixed. It is rumored that two members of Frank's band, Howard Kaylan and
Mark Volman (a.k.a. Flo and Eddie of the Turtles) were making fun of Yoko,
which made John and Yoko decide to mix out Flo and Eddie's vocal comments
in "Scumbag" along with Don Preston's keyboard (you think it's
a bit boring and repetitive, eh?). Zappa didn't release his version of
the show until 1992 on Playground Psychotics. The performance consists
of five tracks: "Well" 4:43, "Say Please" 0:57, "Aaawk"
2:59, "Scumbag" 5:53, and "A Small Eternity With Yoko Ono"
6:06. I highly recommend Zappa's version over Lennon's. If you come across
it in a used CD store or something, you might want to check it out. I wouldn't
buy it if I were you unless you're a Zappa fan.

In general, this album is a weak one for both John and Yoko. If we just
isolate the studio half, we find Yoko coming up with her first sizable
batch of actual songs. Before this, she had mostly done the abstract stuff,
and only occasionally came up with a song when there was a b-side needed
for John's a-sides. To be quite blunt, she wrote really lousy songs at
this point. One need only fast-forward to Double Fantasy to hear
the difference. John's material on this album is not bad at all. However,
he seems to have picked up Yoko's tendency to fit 8-syllable lines of lyrics
into melody lines with only six or seven notes. My favorite on the studio
half is 'Sunday Bloody Sunday,' which actually seems to benefit from Yoko's
warbling background vocal. I'm also partial to 'Woman Is The Nigger Of
The World' and 'New York City.' And I'll agree that 'John Sinclair' would've
been a pretty cool song if only there wasn't all those 'gottas' in it.
In one case, 'The Luck Of The Irish,' we have a pretty decent ballad from
John that's pretty much ruined by Yoko's amateurish middle section.

Then there's Live Jam (not Apple Jam - that's on All Things
Must Pass). Personally, I prefer this to the studio half of the album.
The Plastic Ono Supergroup section on side three is suitably monstrous
for both 'Cold Turkey' and 'Don't Worry Kyoko.' In fact, 'Don't Worry Kyoko'
rates as my favorite track, at least once the long improvisation really
gets under way. The performers are totally playing their asses off, and
Yoko is excelling at what, at the time, was what she knew how to do best.
The Frank Zappa side (four) is somewhat less satisfying, but certainly
not by any fault of the Mothers. 'Well' would hold up a lot better if Yoko
wasn't choosing this tune as a vehicle for her usual routine. Incidentally,
the version on Zappa's Playground Psychotics is substantially longer.
'Jamrag' appears as two separate tracks on the Zappa album - 'Say Please'
and 'Aaawk.' In this case, the Mothers are playing some pretty cool stuff,
and don't need the supplemental contribution from Yoko. In the case of
'Scumbag' (which is far more interesting on the Zappa album, since nothing's
been mixed out), it's actually Lennon who mars an otherwise decent performance
this time, by bringing the whole 'Scumbag' idea into it in the first place.
The only track that I like all the way through is 'Au' (which appears on
the Zappa album as 'A Small Eternity With Yoko Ono'), simply because everybody
seems to be on the same page.
In general, Lennon was going through an artistic lull here, but things
would eventually improve.

Palash Ghosh <palash7@hotmail.com> (15.02.2001)

I can readily understand the deep and profound hatred that most folks
harbor for this album. It represents the abyss of John Lennon's creative
life -- he was hanging around with the wrong people and his songwriting
skills plunged to the most simplistic kind of political sloganeering.

And, despite all this, I've actually kinda grown to like this album! One
reason is the sheer audacity and vulgarity behind it all! Who but John
Lennon would put a doctored photo of a naked Richard Nixon dancing with
a naked Chairman Mao on the front cover of an album?? Either John was completely
crazy by now or he was still undergoing the side-effects of heroin withdrawal,
I donít know. It also shows how reckless and guileless he really is!
You gotta admire him for creating one of the world's most beloved musical
groups and then proceed to systematically destroy his image and reputation.
Now that takes balls!
As for the music, it's not really THAT bad (although the lyrics are all
uniformly rotten to the core). 'Nigger' is actually a great song, with
really soars. 'Sinclair' has some nice slide guitar in it, and 'Sunday'
is another pretty good number.
I agree it's outrageously laughable for a Japanese woman to be singing
the praises of Ireland!!!!
And I must admit I like the bluesy sax on 'Born in a prison'.
It's clear that by now, John Lennon was finished as a songwriter and musician.
He never recovered. And he was only 32. This album was his epitaph, eight
years before his actual death.

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (07.03.2001)

I like Yoko's songs on this one."We're all water" is funny
and quite mad,which is fine with me."Sisters o sisters" is a
catchy twist and "born in a prison" a moving ballad. John's ones
fluctuate between being very good and very bad:

On the plus side,we've got the woman manifesto,with its spectorian wall
of sound.Who can resist the rockn'rolling "New York City" ?My
Lord,what a singer! "Luck of the Irish" is in the music hall
vein and is very tuneful.But I agree:it would have been better without
Y's vocals.
On the other hand,"John Sinclair" has a tune that could have
been written by a six years old."Angela" 's lyrics are
trite to a fault.The second disc is the greatest rock swindle.A "would
be free bonus record" ,it actually doubled the price we had to pay
since the very beginning.And as I can't say something nice about it...

It's a shame Lennon never went on tour, since it would have given him
a chance to get more into the swing of things, so to speak. Nevertheless,
this wasn't a bad show at all. Oh, sure, some of the songs sound a little
clumsy, but there are several others that hang together very nicely. Aside
from the trouble John seems to have singing it, 'Come Together' sounds
pretty good here - particularly the drums, although they should've given
the sax player a coffee break. Actually, a long coffee break, since he
doesn't fit in at all on 'Cold Turkey' (which is otherwise another decent
reading of this much-released song), 'Mother' (which, I think, is the weakest
track - the playing is sluggish and John can't hit the notes) and 'Imagine'
(where the hell were they? a cocktail lounge?). Generally, the other songs
all sound fine, if not quite as good as the studio versions. I could pretty
much do without this version of 'Hound Dog,' however. It just doesn't drive
enough.

Incidentally, there is another excerpt of 'Give Peace A Chance' that was
released a decade earlier that was included on the compilation, Shaved
Fish, which is apparently part of the same recording. It's hard to
recognize it as a Lennon recording, though, since you only hear him briefly,
and otherwise hear several other singers (who basically sound like gospel
singers).
Son of incidentally, this CD greatly benefited from the extraction of the
three Yoko songs that were performed in the show. And who can we credit
with extracting those songs? Well, I'd guess that the producer of the CD
must have made the decision. Now, if I could just remember what her name
was....I seem to recall she used to be married to one of the Beatles....

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (08.03.2001)

I had a vinyl bootleg and the sound of Mother/Come together/Cold turkey
was much better than on the official release.Too bad Lennon had to
pass away before having recorded a live album worthy of the name.Or the
harsh truth is it that Lennon ,like his former group ,was not a public
performer?After this concert,anyway,Lennon was never the same again.Never
again,we would have these vital tracks of the first two-mainly the first
actually-.

There really is only one song on this album that I would consider to
be weak, and that's 'Meat City,' which is very unfocused, although it seems
to be the only track that sounds like an album-closer to me. The rest of
the songs are all fairly solid material. And yet, somehow, the whole album
seems to be lacking something. In fact, when I set out to respond to this
one, I had to play it a couple of times just to remember how the tunes
went. I guess that's what it is - the songs just don't glue themselves
to the brain like they do on virtually every other Lennon album. And yet
(again), I can't say there's really anything wrong with these melodies.
In fact (hope you're sitting down, George), I think 'One Day At A Time'
is one of the prettiest melodies Lennon ever came up with, and personally,
I like the way he sings it. 'Intuition' is also a pretty strong song, as
is 'Out The Blue' and I could swear at least a couple of others that sure
enough have already exited my brain - and I just listened to them twice!
And then there's the one that's on most if not all the compilations, 'Mind
Games,' which I think never comes across as well as any of the other compilation
tracks. I certainly don't dislike any of the songs on this album. Oh, and
about 'Only People' - I think what it is about that chorus is that it sounds
too much like it came straight out of a fast-food commercial.

About the session musicians: that guitarist who plays so nicely on 'Aisumasen'
is David Spinozza, who plays on the whole album, apparently. Also, and
this is for the Kinks fans out there, the bass player on this album is
none other than Gordon Edwards, who spent about a year in the late seventies
as the Kinks' keyboardist.

This is without a doubt the worst post beatles work John did, and thus
probably his worst effort. To me it sounds like he is out of ideas, both
lyrically and musically. 'Mind Games', 'Out The Blue', 'I know' and 'Bring
on the Lucie', are all OK, but the rest are highly uninteresting.

Palash Ghosh <palash7@hotmail.com> (16.02.2001)

I used to think that Mind Games and the subsequent Walls and
Bridges marked the return of John Lennon as a decent songwriter and
musician after the debacle of Some Time in New York City. But, in
recent years I've reassessed and concluded that these two records from
the mid-1970's were just prolonging the agony of his awful mediocrity.
The title track is phony-baloney New Age garbage, and most of the rest
of these sings flat-out stink. I do, however, like 'Aisumasen' a lot, the
guitar solo in there is very nice (almost sounds like George playing!)
But, Lennon was still 'coasting' on his Beatles fame, little did the public
realize he had nothing left to give.

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (08.03.2001)

Lennon has lost his soul.This is not a bad album.Worse,this is a pleasant
album.Now that they got the message,now that the confessional genre has
spawned a whole school of artists,Lennon,who was at the very beginning
of all that ,beats the retreat.The songs sing mechanical,devoid of humor
and verve.The title track is the only one that posesses something of the
past epic sweeps.The remake of "jealous guy" is pleasant too,but
it's a remake."Out of the blue" has Abbey Roadesque harmonies.It
was a disappointment when it was released.It has not improved with time.

I'm having trouble figuring out whether I really like this album or
not. Like on the previous album, most of the songs are fairly solid. And
yet, little of this really jumps out at me and reveals itself as topnotch
John Lennon music. I guess I'd pick 'Steel And Glass' as my favorite track,
but it's utterly impossible to not think about the similarities to 'How
Do You Sleep?' In case anybody cares, John apparently wrote it about Allen
Klein. I also really enjoy the Lennon-Nilsson collaboration 'Old Dirt Road,'
as well as most of the other songs. I could pretty much take or leave the
real poppy stuff ('Whatever Gets You Thru The Night'; 'What You Got').
Overall, I think I like this album more than Mind Games, but maybe
I don't really give a shit one way or the other. No matter how you slice
it, he hadn't gotten back to the peak he reached earlier in the decade.

There is one funny little detail on this album. There's a little guitar
riff on 'Beef Jerky' that's played on the higher strings that sounds very
similar to a guitar riff in 'Let Me Roll It' by Paul McCartney and Wings,
which had been released nearly a year earlier on Band On The Run.
A technical point: Phil Spector wasn't involved on this album or on the
previous one. By this time, though, John had recorded the portion of Rock
And Roll that was produced by Spector. After Walls And Bridges,
he recorded the rest of that album, but without Spector.
Another technical point: I think 'Bless You' is probably one of those dreaded
Yokosongs, George.

This album has really grown on me. I think it is very well produced
, and a vast improvement on Mind Games. 'Whatever Gets u Through
The Night', 'No. 9 Dream', and 'Nobody Loves You'.... are fantastic.

Its no return to the form of Plastic Ono Band, or Imagine,
but they were pretty creative dead ends so its a little much to expect
that of every JL album. Its a basic pop/rock record really, but there's
nothing wrong with that.

Palash Ghosh <palash7@hotmail.com> (16.02.2001)

Walls and Bridges is an improvement over Mind Games, but
not by much. I really like 'Whatever gets you thru the night' (the only
song here that has any life and energy in it) and 'Old dirt road' has a
nice subtle melody and feel to it. Otherwise, this is just another pile
of trash from a thoroughly dissipated talent.

One thing that really bothers me about this record is the excessive use
of loud, irritating brass orchestration. Some of these numbers might've
been rendered just a bit more tolerable if they were drowned down by those
hideous ugly horns.
I can only wonder what Paul and George (not to mention the fans) thought
as they watched John's precipitous decline.

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (08.03.2001)

M.Ghosh,at the time,George was on the wane too,so.As for Paul,although
he enjoyed his golden records ,he wasn't an influential force anymore.Has
he ever been one after the split?VoilÞ la question.

Walls and bridges,although it never matches the heights of POB
and Imagine is a moving album.Unlike mind games,something
vibrates within this platter.Anger,anxiety,disillusion,infinite sadness
haunts the best tracks:"going down on love" "scared"
"nobody loves you..." "what you got".Even when the
music turns lighter, a bizarre feeling of bitterness percolates:"whatever
gets you thru the night" "n°9 dream".The weird Nillsson
album "pussycats" which JL produced at the same time shares the
same gloomy atmosphere (hear,for instance the intense cover of J. Cliff's
"many rivers to cross").Little did we know it would be John's
last "complete" album.

Pretty good but not on the level of Imagine or the best works
from Double Fantasy. Truthfully I like 'What You Got' as its got
some rock n roll in it. John's voice is overly strained but at least it
diverts from the usual singer-songwriting mode that fills up this album.
Don't get me wrong, there are many good songs-'Surprise Surprise(Sweet
Bird Of paradise)', 'Bless You', 'Whatever Gets You Through The Night',
'Nobody Knows You When Your Down And Out', and 'Dream #9'. However each
of these songs are comprimised but a steady horn or string arrangement.
In some cases even both. Where is the energy and rock n roll? How about
a good guitar or piano passage that existed throughout the Imagine
album on such tracks as 'Give Me Some Truth', 'Crippled Inside', and 'Jealous
Guy'. Shoot the drums on this release do very little. And the piano and
guitar embellishements are certainly good but definitely stiffled. Good
yes but certainly not essential.

By the way, the reason 'Ya Ya' was even included on the record had to do
with a contractualy agreement for John to do a ocver song. John did not
like the idea so he more or less half asses it. 'Beef Jerky' isn't offensive
but most definitely filler and inappropriate.

A very entertaining album, though John's singing starts to get monotonous
after a while. He's sings in the same range on every song. I particularly
enjoy 'Ain't That A Shame,' 'Peggy Sue,' and the Little Richard medley
('Rip It Up' and 'Ready Teddy').

Josh is right about the lawsuit story. You might notice that the first
couple of lines to 'Come Together' show up in the middle of 'You Can't
Catch Me.' Morris Levy, who owned the publishing rights to that song, let
John know that he considered this to be copyright infringement. To avoid
a lawsuit, John agreed to record some songs owned by Levy.
The original sessions for this album took place at the end of 1973 (almost
right after the recording of Mind Games, so we can't expect him
to have had much new material at this point), and were produced by Phil
Spector. Then, suddenly, Spector went into hiding and took the tapes with
him. While John tried to get them back, he went about recording Walls
And Bridges. Right after that album was finished (again, no time to
come up with a lot of new songs), he went back into the studio to record
some more songs for the oldies album, this time handling the production
himself. At some point in late 1974, John gave Levy a copy of the masters.
Then, in early Feb. 1975, a mail-order album appeared called Roots which
sported 15 of the tracks recorded (Rock 'n' Roll has only 13). This
album was on the Adam VIII label. The album notes claim authorization from
Lennon and Apple. Not only was this authorization denied, but Apple rush-released
Rock 'n' Roll by the end of the month to curtail sales of Roots.
The Apple album, however, includes only four of the six Spector-produced
tracks found on the other album ('You Can't Catch Me,' 'Sweet Little Sixteen,'
'Bony Moronie' and 'Just Because'). The Adam VIII album also includes 'Angel
Baby' and 'Be My Baby,' both of which have surfaced in recent years. There
are also some longer fade-outs on Roots, and in the case of 'You
Can't Catch Me,' the opening lines appear where they belong, and were edited
into the middle of the song for the Apple release (perhaps to distract
us from their connection to 'Come Together'?)

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (08.03.2001)

The brass arrangements kill the songs!Only "Peggy sue" and
"slippin' and slidin'" recall Lennon's great covers:"bad
boy" "rock and roll music" "dizzy miss Lizzy"
"money"."Be my baby" -sung with a delightful delicacy-
and "Angel Baby" would have redeemed the project but they were
left in the can for ten years or more.

Just a really fun exercise. The arrangements are a bit too horn-heavy
for me, but that's just a minor complaint. Despite the edit that Robert
mentions, this version of "You Can't Catch Me" does make it obvious
that John accidentally nicked the riff when writing "Come Together."
I agree that the peak track is "Stand By Me," which is one of
those powerful, apocalyptic love songs. The original, (performed by the
lead singer of the Drifters, Ben E. King, and written by Leiber-Stoller)
is great, but John manages to preserve the original power of the piece
and add his own stamp on it at the same time. Interestingly, this is one
of only two songs that his father performed that Julian Lennon included
in his live shows (the other being "Day Tripper.")

Incidentally, John won a countersuit against Morris Levy for putting out
that shoddy Roots album. Good for him!

DOUBLE
FANTASY

Simon Hearn <simon@leehearn.freeserve.co.uk> (09.09.99)

Hmmm. I always have said to any new listener, who doesn't own a Lennon
album - "got get Imagine and Plastic ono band".
I have to change my opinion. IT is a few months since I listened to this
in its entirety and I have to say listening to it again has made my think
that this is the best of his solo efforts.

'Watching the Wheels' is absolutely terrific - haunting, moving and at
the same time it has a hopeful quality. Of course, 'woman' is a great track
and shows Lennon as a guy who is not afraid to lay his emotions bare for
all to see (owners of plastic ono band will know this only too well).
I also love 'Beautiful Boy' - a song which makes my hair stand on end.
All in all a class album deserving the 9, but now in my opinion, a 10.

Cara Bradbury <cara@bradbury.ukf.net> (27.03.2000)

Great album , but if you've already got the John Lennon Collection
and don't like Yoko's songs too much ( they fill half the album ) I wouldn't
bother buying it . The only different song on here is ' Cleanup time
' . But if you don't have the John Lennon Collection then go , go
, go and buy Double Fantasy. The seven Lennon songs on here are
fab .

Of course, buying The John Lennon Collection instead of Double
Fantasy means not having 'Cleanup Time,' which would be more than just
a missing song. It's arguably the strongest track on the album. It gets
a good run for its money from 'Dear Yoko' (damn that's catchy stuff!) and
'Watching The Wheels.' I also enjoy 'Beautiful Boy' (he sounds more like
a big teddy bear than a teddy boy, wouldn't you say?) and 'I'm Losing You'
(the middle part melody is fantastic). The only Lennon song on here that
doesn't quite do it for me is the drastically over-rated 'Woman.' I realize
it's heartfelt and everything, but it's just so melodically unexceptional.

Then there's the Yoko stuff. I think her songwriting had improved over
the years, but technically speaking, it still wasn't that great. However,
the arrangements on her songs make all the difference. If you just pay
attention to the arrangement of 'Beautiful Boys,' for instance, and ignore
the flawed piece of songwriting that it actually is, it turns out to be
a pretty amazing piece of music. This is the case with most of Yoko's tunes
on here. While I like some more than others, I can't actually say that
I dislike any of them. And even though some of them sound a bit dated now,
they all seemed a lot more daring to my ears back in 1980 than any of the
Lennon material on here.

I agree-- who cares about the Yoko songs? I get about fifteen seconds
into "Kiss Kiss Kiss" and decide not to listen to a single second
of her material for the rest of the album. Maybe there're only seven Lennon
tunes, and thus most rational CD listenes will only program their CD for
seven of the fourteen tracks. This is fine, because despite the fact that
this gives you only approximately twenty-five minutes of Lennon material,
it's ALL ace and makes up for the relative ripoff that this album might
seem like. "(Just Like) Starting Over" is a gorgeously harmonized
'50s-style hit single, "I'm Losing You" has a great weary guitar
lick (why the hell does Prindle hate this song?), "Beautiful Boy"
is pretty and memorable, and....well....all of Lennon's songs are amazing.
Full-sounding, produced, these are seven pop masterpieces. I follow the
exact same logic as you in that thanks to Yoko's songs the album can't
achieve a 10, but it's still great enough to receive a very solid 9/10.
What awesome songs!!!

John should have known better to let Yoko contribute her crappy songs
to this album. John should have tried to write about three more. Than this
would have been a recording that rivaled Imagine. But no he had
to do the fifty fifty deal with his much less talented partner. Actually
'I'm Moving On' is pretty darn good as it follows the pattern of 'I'm Losing
You' quite nicely. All of John's songs are fairly pleasant. However 8 winners
out of 14 just don't cut it for me.

I dont consider this a proper album. I combine the lennon tracks of
M&H with these, and make a really excellent final JL album.
I cant stand Yoko Ono, she irritates me greatly, call me a snob but I just
cant listen to her "music" - its crap, there's no getting around
it. My oh my, the times John must have laughed inwardley at Yokos insane
babble. He must have been making this album with her for a laugh. To me
it seriously taints the ease with which I can listent to the often brilliant
final recordings of Johns.

Many critics had a go at him for producing banal pop rubbish, but I enjoy
that aspect of this album. All the songs are great pop, and in 'watching
the wheels' you had a great lyric also, but you cant help feel a little
irate at the hypocracy of it. Lennon had continuously attacked Paul for
making such music, and yet here he was singing all lovey-dovey about his
woman. You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs
- obviously not john, "and what's wrong with that?" as a certain
Mccartney once said.

Palash Ghosh <palash7@hotmail.com> (16.02.2001)

When Double Fantasy came out, there was some excitement about
John's return to recording. That goodwill carried over for a while, but
upon closer inspection, this record is just more garbage (albeit, better-produced
and somewhat sweeter garbage than the dreck he put out from 1972-1975).
'Watching the wheels' is a pretty solid song and "Beautiful boy"
is a charmer, but the rest of it just REEKS.

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (09.03.2001)

Now "double fantasy " is forever linked to its context.Everytime
you hear one of its tracks you're back in december 1980,this nightmare
that never ends.Would "beautiful boy" have become so harrowing
,so endearing if..

?
Yoko's songs are sensible,therefore worthless.Why didn't they include "walking
on thin ice" which features the best lines Y. has ever written and
the most prodigious atmosphere she has ever created?(E.Costello butchered
it on a bonus track of "punch the clock")
John has three classics here:
Woman:exponentially tuneful,wonderfully sung ,this song reaches for the
sky or for the stars.This ballad is on a par with "across the
universe " or Paul's "here there and everywhere"
Starting over:Very close to the great Roy Orbison(when will he be on the
site?),recalling the Beach Boys' "don't worry baby",it's a song
"Þ tiroirs" .THe British press was harsh when this single
was released:"Lennon wants to be slagged off ."The song began
its live -as Lennon Anthologies shows- as a slow and wistful ballad,and
it grew into a lush epic.The intro 's contrast with that of "mother"
is absolutely stunning.
Watching the wheels:It's the key of the record.JL had earned his happiness,and
he wanted a family life.THat's why this record is very simple ,the
most accessible Lennon has ever made.
The rest of the tracks:"I'm losing you" began its life at the
times of walls and bridges(hear the demo "strangers' room"
on L.A.)It was not that much strong in the first place but the events
turned it in an almost haunted song;the end makes me think of a moan of
agony."Clean up time " has lines taken from "cry baby cry".This
one and "dear Yoko" provides the low points of the album.
Too bad Lennon's comeback was so short-lived!

Devon Bott <devon@gtec.com> (02.05.2003)

I think that Yoko's songs on this album were better than John's. Dated?
Maybe, if Bjork, Tori Amos, and Ani Difranco are anything tho, Yoko is
the fairy godmother to all of them. You get a definate sense of her Japanese
heritage in the melodies, and the songs are very touching. Of course, I
can only listen to the album in the context of John's murder, so this album
does tend to choke me up in places.

I guess the result of sharing Double Fantasy with Yoko was that
John had a lot of extra songs lying around. I'm glad she decided to release
these, as they're all pretty darned good (except maybe 'My Little Flower
Princess' which seems pretty thin). 'Nobody Told Me' is damned infectious,
even if the chorus is a jumbled mess. My favorite, however, would have
to be 'Grow Old With Me' since it sports one of John's most beautiful melodies.
I also think the demo turned out to be a good way to release this, since
it's a song about growing old and sounds sort of antiquated like a 78 record.
Yoko's songs don't hold up as well as on Double Fantasy. This may have
something to do with Jack Douglas not being involved as a producer. There
is a bit of interesting atmosphere on some of her tracks, but most of the
songwriting is thoroughly unexceptional. In particular, 'O' Sanity' is
pretty much a throwaway. And I actually feel a little guilty not liking
'Let Me Count The Ways,' since it's obviously very heartfelt and the lyrics
are pretty good in spots. But, as far as the melody goes, it makes me think
of drawings made by children. We applaud the 5-year-old for coming up with
the piece of creativity, but when the 45-year-old comes up with something
equivalent, we go to the yellow pages to look up mental health professionals.

As far as the direction music would have taken had Lennon lived, I strongly
suspect it would be pretty much what it is. First of all, musicians don't
tend to be particularly trendsetting once they hit their forties. And secondly,
John Lennon, as consistent as his songwriting was, had stopped being innovative
years before he died.

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (09.03.2001)

Don't consider it a genuine Lennon album.He had no control on the production
and for a very good reason!Only one great song "grow old with me".Too
bad the treatment was so crude.It deserved an orchestral arrangement.After
a long and winding road,(!) G.martin(!) did it on the L.A:
he covered a weak tape with his strings.

Definitely for Lennonphiles only. Most of the tracks on side one are
fully produced but not the best songs, while side two is basically The
John Lennon Anthology, but focusing only on Walls And Bridges.
I still enjoy several tracks, however, notably 'Rock And Roll People' (it's
good to hear Lennon's own version of this track, which he gave away to
Johnny Winter), 'Steel And Glass' (even a working version is worthwhile)
and 'Here We Go Again' (which is interesting but not that great). I don't
think there's anything terribly wrong with the rest of this stuff, but
it should have been saved for the Anthology/Wonsaponatime project.
And my, but that Phil Spector fellow sure knows how to glop on tons of
production, doesn't he?

Teresa Juarez Guzman <ggr74017@prodigy.net.mx> (26.11.2000)

Probably, I'm the only person around willing to sit through this product
again and again. My thoughts on "To know her..." are enough to
defend the whole record as a must for music seekers of John Lennon through
his crazy sessions in 1974: it surely reflects (looong and bluuuesy as
it is; non pleasant for the ears but, damn, it shows a lot of passion!)
the hurtful need for acceptance. After this, we get alternative versions
(the best for sure, just compare the corny "Walls and Bridges"'
number three track to the masterful, wistful Lennon-Nilsson's "Old
Dirt Road" included in this compilation: all you need is waterrr...
without those dated effects in the final take... ) of "Scared"
(without the stupid howl), "Nobody Loves You (When You're
Down And Out", "Steel And Glass" and "Bless You"
(again, without the overproduced final take.) My argument? Because these
were the first versions I ever listened, they've grown fond to me, independently
(because?...) of their direct, more natural approach. It sure isn't a 10,
nor a 9. But it's still very emotional and that means a lot to me,
and I cannot rate my emotions easily. Or maybe I can. Dylan's Time
Out Of Mind made me cry for about half an hour, and that would
rate it above from Menlove Avenue!... Seriously: this (and
Dylan's too!) is a fine album destined to a record collection for
a lost weekend.

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (09.03.2001)

Yoko,searching for a few dollars more,scrapped the bottom of the barrel.

"Here we go again" is as pleasant to listen as to forget."Angel
baby" has been on the bootlegs for so many time it doesn't interest
anymore."To know her is to love her" is horrible ,because of
the bombastic arrangements totally inadequate for this exquisite but intimate
ballad.Prefer Spector's Teddy Bears' version on the "back to
mono " box set.The rest is outtakes and more garbage.

Eric Rogozin <erogozin@mtu-net.ru> (17.04.2001)

It's surely worth hearing and buying, because it has some new songs
and wonderful glorious half-acoustic versions of songs from Walls And
Bridges. "Steel And Glass" is one of my favourite Lennon
songs ever and it's nice for me to hear another version (outtake) of this
song. The same goes for "Bless You" - charming beautiful ballad.
In short, side B is interesting.

When speaking about side A, it's also interesting. "Here We Go Again"
and "Rock And Roll People" are hidden gems, "Angel Baby"
and "Since My Baby Left Me" are interesting. About "To Know
Her Is To Love Her", it's a very good song, but I have never heard
such an IDIOTIC ARRANGEMENT of a good song like on this album. Remember
the version of "To Know Her Is To Love Her" on Live at
the BBC: it's so marvellous and exciting; but on Menlove Ave
this song has very idiotic arrangement like I said before.
In general, Menlove Ave shows the greatness of John once more.

I think this release was a pretty good idea, as it brings together the
best (or so it seems) tracks from The John Lennon Anthology and
puts them on one CD. I do think most of the better tracks were used, but
there are a few instances where I would have chose differently. It seems
a shame that 'I'm The Greatest' wasn't included, since it was probably
the best Lennon song that wasn't released by Lennon. For those out there
interested in trivial details, 'I'm Losing You' is the version in which
Lennon is backed up by Cheap Trick. Also, 'God Save Oz' was released by
the Elastic Oz Band under the title 'God Save Us' with Bill Elliott singing
lead. Chronologically, it shows up between the 'Power To The People' single
and the Imagine album. The b-side shows up on the Anthology,
and is called 'Do The Oz', and is sung by John and Yoko (even on the record).

Overall, I think this is a pretty enjoyable CD. Some tracks sound pretty
close to the official versions, but at least they're not over-arranged
the way they were on Mind Games and Walls And Bridges.

mjcarney <mjcarney@netzero.net> (22.07.2000)

Basically, this isn't a bad summary of the 4 disc boxed set. I
don't own this, but own the boxed set, and I would say that this is average,
but of course it is missing most of the best songs from the boxed set.
The biggest disapointment on this is the missing of "Imagine(Live)"
which is instead replaced by the interesting, yet unrewarding 'Imagine
Take one' (which is inferior to the original). 'Imagine Live' is
breathtaking, just Lennon alone with an acoustic, it is for me what the
song should have been, more folky rather than a piano ballad. The
disc is also missing most of Lennon's unreleased demo's from Disc 4 of
the set. "Dear John" "Life Begins at 40" and
"The Happi Rishi Kesh Song" (for humor's sake) would have
been great on here rather than the overly done "Grow Old With Me","I'm
Losing You" and "Woman is the Nigger of the World (Live).
I mean--why do we need another version of that last song live when the
one on Live in NYC is already far superior. Of course some
songs from disc one are missing too, but that is why it is only a one disc
sampler. It is pretty good, but I know for me that I would end up
wanting the boxed set after hearing this disc making the disc completely
useless in the long run. If it had the anthologies best tracks, it
would be all you would really need in the less expensive route, but as
it is it can't get anything better than a 5/10--you will just want to hear
more.

Didier Dumonteil <dbdumonteil@wanadoo.fr> (10.03.2001)

I own the whole thing too.It's a good job for Lennon's buffs.Yoko delivers
the goods here.A whiter shade of paled "Imagine""long lost
John which spawned "oh Yoko",the genesis of "Starting over"
"mind games " and I'm losing you",funny spoofs on "Yesterday"
and Dylan's "gotta serve somebody "("serve yourself").THe
fourth disc is by far the most interesting because the rate of unreleased
tracks is higher"life begins at 40" influenced by Hank Williams,"Rishi
Kesh song'","Mr Hyde's gone" (Beautiful Boy n°2) and
the couldn't -care-less but endearing "dear John"Lennon leaves
us whistling ("It's real") as Otis Redding did in 1967.(docks
of the bay")John 's solo career has perhaps not been the one we expected,but
for what he have done,the least we can do is to thank him for having brought
so much "bonheur" to thousands of people.Think that without
him and his mates,your favourite site would not exist.So,hats off!

Even casual fans who aren't completists should buy one of the Lennon
compilations, if only to make sure they own 'Cold Turkey,' 'Instant Karma'
and 'Happy Xmas' - three of his greatest songs. Not to mention 'Power To
The People,' which is pretty strong, and 'Give Peace A Chance,' which is
not terribly impressive but nevertheless historical. For those who are
completists, well, you gotta have The John Lennon Collection in
order to include 'Move Over Ms. L' in your collection. No other CD has
it. Incidentally, four of the songs on the CD are bonus tracks not included
on the original LP: the aforementioned 'Move Over Ms. L,' 'Cold Turkey,'
'Happy Xmas,' and 'Stand By Me.'

For those who want every Lennon recording, however, you still need to find
Imagine: John Lennon, the CD that accompanied the film of the same
name. This includes an acoustic guitar demo of 'Real Love' and Lennon demonstrating
'Imagine' for the first time to the session musicians. (It also includes
several Beatles tracks.) And for those who want every odd mix of every
Lennon track, you'd still need to find Shaved Fish, since there's
an edited mix of 'Give Peace A Chance' which is erroneously listed as the
first half of a 'medley' with 'Cold Turkey' (which is included in its complete
form). There's also an experpt of a live 'Give Peace A Chance' which is
superimposed onto the end of 'Happy Xmas.' Also.....Lennon Legend
includes the single edit of 'Mother.'
P.S. Just as a correction, 'Give Peace A Chance' was the song credited
to both Lennon and McCartney - not 'Cold Turkey.' In fact, I think Paul's
rejection of the latter song was part of Lennon's impetus for keeping his
name off of it.

Lennon was even a more erratic solo artist than McCartney, which is
why a hits collection is enough for just about everybody. Collection
does have a slight advantage over Shaved Fish, in my mind, since
it excludes the cacophonous "Woman is the Nigger of the World"(the
worst single John ever did) and includes all of the good stuff from the
latter. Plus you get "Move Over, Ms. L," which is a really fun
number. I find it interesting that it also includes "Love" in
favor of "Mother." I guess the record company guys figured that
people prefer the cuddly, vulnerable John to angry, suffering John. All
of these tunes are great, though. You do get a sense of the range of John's
talent, without having to hear how he also misused it at times.

The live version of "Imagine" is from a TV show called "Salute
to Lew Grade". As far as I know, this concert was a part of an obligation
imposed on Lennon in court, after Grade (apparently Chuck Berry publisher)had
sued him for plagiarism on Berry in Beatles' "Come Together".
McCartney said that Lennon knew the song was similar to one Berry song
and asked Paul to arrange it in such a way to make this resemblance disappear
- it seems they didn't succeed. That is why John's backing musicians wear
those strange masks in the show, that's how THEY salute to Grade. Anyway,
this performance (April 1975) was Lennon's last live appearance ever.